EDITORIAL: City of Beaumont should pay for sidewalk repairs

By Enterprise editorial staff

Published 4:00 am, Sunday, August 25, 2013

If the Beaumont City Council wants to make the city safer and more attractive, there's a simple but important change it should make: Amend an old ordinance that makes property owners responsible for maintaining sidewalks - even if they're over their boundary lines.

The ordinance is illogical, unfair and short-sighted - and it infuriates many residents. What better reason to junk it?

Sidewalks are traditionally regarded as a city's responsibility, just like the streets they run alongside. Anyone can use sidewalks without fear of trespassing.

What's next, requiring property owners to clean out drainage ditches or unclog storm drains because they too are technically on private property?

The origins of the ordinance are irrelevant at this point. The real-world effect of it is that homeowners are less inclined to repair sidewalks in front of their homes. It's usually time-consuming and expensive, an unfamiliar chore for most homeowners. Yet city crews that work on streets all the time could easily handle this work.

This change will cost the city, but it's an investment worth making. The council just increased property taxes by 5 cents, and the city has the windfall from the natural gas-well royalties at the Municipal Airport.

Savvy cities do all they can to promote sidewalks, which Beaumont and Southeast Texas do not have enough of. Sidewalks can transform a collection of houses into a neighborhood of homes, a place where people walk, jog or bike and actually interact with the folks they live by.

Houston is revisiting this issue, and Beaumont should too. It's time for the council to step up and be pro-active. Which member will lead this effort?